AP US History
This Day in American History
October 21
1797 – The USS Constitution, a 44-gun U.S. Navy
frigate built to fight Barbary pirates off the coast of
Tripoli, is launched in Boston Harbor. The vessel
performed commendably during the Barbary
conflicts, and in 1805 a peace treaty with Tripoli was
signed on the Constitution's deck.
AP US History
This Day in American History
October 21
1910 – A massive explosion destroys the Los
Angeles Times building in the city's downtown area,
killing 21 and injuring many more. Since Los Angeles
Times publisher Harrison Otis, a virulent opponent
of unions, believed that the bomb was directed at
him, he hired the nation's premier private detective,
William J. Burns, to crack the case.
AP US History
This Day in American History
October 21
1921 – President Warren G. Harding delivers a
speech in Alabama in which he condemns
lynchings—illegal hangings committed primarily by
white supremacists against African Americans in the
Deep South.
AP US History
This Day in American History
October 21
1959 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an
executive order transferring the brilliant rocket designer
Wernher von Braun and his team from the U.S. Army to
the newly created National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA). Von Braun, the mastermind of
the U.S. space program, had developed the lethal V-2
rocket for Nazi Germany during World War II.